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Escaped Habersham inmate captured in Tennessee

Posted 10:32AM on Tuesday 10th January 2017 ( 7 years ago )

CLARKESVILLE — A Habersham County Sheriff's Office inmate who escaped custody during treatment at Habersham Medical Center on Jan. 3 has been captured.

Jody Montgomery Smallwood was captured about 9:30 p.m. Monday at a home in Union County, Tenn.

"Law enforcement personnel there, with the assistance of the Habersham County Sheriff's Office and U.S. Marshals, were able to locate Smallwood at a residence in their jurisdiction," Habersham County Sheriff's Lt. Matt Wurtz said Tuesday morning.

Wurtz said Habersham County personnel were not in Tennessee, but rather had enlisted the assistance of U.S. Marshals in the case.

Smallwood was charged with three counts of aggravated assault on police officers (felony), resisting arrest, and fugitive from justice.

Those charges are from Tennessee, not Habersham County, Wurtz said, and are related to an altercation with Smallwood during his arrest.

Smallwood was not still in waist chains and the handcuff at the time of his arrest, Wurtz said.

Habersham officials will be coordinating with those in Union County, Tenn., to extradite Smallwood back to Georgia to face escape and other related charges, as well as the charges he initially faced.

It's unclear at this point whether Smallwood will face the Tennessee charges first or the ones in Habersham County, but Wurtz said Habersham officials are working with Tennessee on that.

Wurtz said additional charges are possible in the case since Smallwood made it from Demorest to Tennessee and was out of the restraints that were in place at the time of his escape.

"We are looking into the possibility of charging anyone who may have assisted him in his escape," Wurtz said.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2017/1/489004/escaped-habersham-inmate-captured-in-tennessee

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